Jurisdiction
by Techno Skittles
Summary: A story in which mercy is real power.


**Disclaimer: Korra belongs to Bryke. Which is good. Because if not I'd break more hearts and cause more feels than they do. –insert evil grin here-**

* * *

**Jurisdiction**

_By Techno Skittles_

* * *

He had played her. All this time he's been playing her. Tenzin had warned her and she even had her own suspicions from time to time, but she figured that anyone who wanted to stop Amon so badly couldn't be _that_ bad a guy. After all, if they were working towards the same goal and had some common ground there was no way he could've been that different from her.

Of course, there were plenty of times that he's proved that theory wrong, but Korra always convinced herself that he only did these harsh things for the wellbeing of Republic City. She always sugar-coated his actions, making them seem less of a big deal, never seeing the big picture.

She played right into the palms of his hands. She danced around like a fool while he pulled the strings, grinning down at his little puppet ready to bend at his will with the eventual intention of cutting those strings and leaving her to rot. He'd use her for his entertainment and success – no more and no less. Korra was only his tool, his play thing. And she was foolish to think otherwise.

They'd been after Amon. After spending months verifying their sources and readying the task force, it was finally time for them to pursue the leader of the Equalists. They were all sent on their way after a roundabout of motivational speeches, suiting up, and mentally preparing themselves for this large battle. It was finally time to end this war and unite Republic City.

Mako and Bolin had seen her off, telling her things like "Be careful" and "Give Amon a punch in the face for me." She had laughed at them, feeling genuinely warm that they cared so deeply for her. In such a short amount of time of knowing each other they'd become a family. It made Korra feel better about leaving her own parents behind at the South Pole. So she promised the brothers her safe return with an arrogant smile on her face, glad to see their faces brighten as well.

Unfortunately, with how things were going against her, she realized just how empty her promise was.

"How can you do this?" she coughed out, more smoke filling her mouth. Searing embers licked her cheeks and ash littered her hair and stung her eyes, everything blurring as they watered. The entire room shook and rumbled violently, ready to collapse at any given moment. It was then that Korra realized that this burning building would be her grave, the man looming in front of her her executioner.

Another explosion in the distance boomed and shook the building again, debris skittering across the floor and pieces of the ceiling raining down on them. The large rock trapping her by the leg shifted painfully and Korra grunted as it crushed her even more. But she refused to let the pain get to her, not with how Tarrlok leered at her like a prison guard watching an inmate suffer silently while putting up a strong front. Just waiting for them to finally break and beg for mercy.

But Korra was strong-willed. She wouldn't give in.

"How can you do this?" she repeated through gritted teeth.

"Very easily," he replied calmly as if unaware of the destruction around them. Fire spread throughout the room and the smoke thickened, suffocating the young Avatar. It was a wonder Tarrlok had an easier time breathing considering that he was standing and she was low to the ground. Maybe the smoke only aimed to kill her.

"I meant _why_. Why are you doing this?"

Tarrlok smiled fondly and held up Amon's mask, admiring it like a trophy. "A smart man does not pass up such an opportunity, Miss Avatar Korra. Only a fool would allow this to slip through his fingers." He looked at her from the corner of his eyes, indigo irises laughing at her. "I'm no fool."

Korra made an attempt to free herself of the boulder – oh how she wished her chi would magically unblock right now – but only managed to exhaust herself further and inhale a mouthful of smoke. Her eyes watered dangerously as she coughed and sputtered, cursing the councilman above her. She damned him to live the entirety of his afterlife in the darkest and hottest parts of the spirit world, to experience the suffocation and heat exhaustion she was experiencing right now. He would not get away with this without consequences and she'd see to that, even if she had to do so without a physical form.

"I thought…I thought you were supposed to be helping me," she wheezed. Her leg was growing numb and her head was becoming a lightweight. The thought of her demise came to the forefront of her mind once again and she began to feel nauseous.

He chuckled lightly like she had just told a corny joke and shook his head. "You are so naïve, young Avatar. It's a shame you must die as such. If my career didn't rely so heavily on this, I could've taken you under my wing."

Blood from the cut above her eye seeped downward, blinding her in her right eye. She coughed and spit out more blood that was collecting on the inside of her cheek, the bitter metallic taste a relief from the dry ash. "So that's what this is all about," she mused. "You're just looking for the glory. You expect some big promotion out of this, am I right?"

Tarrlok chuckled again. "Perhaps not so naïve as you seem."

Korra closed her eyes, berating herself for being so dumb as to let herself fall into his trap. His plans were more articulate than Amon's _and_ he had the majority of the council on his side to add to that. All this time, Korra believed Amon to be the true villain in her life. To her, he was the biggest threat in Republic City. But shortly after his downfall, the real evil mastermind revealed himself. And this one wasn't even hiding in the shadows. Tarrlok was right in front of her nose this whole time, but she never considered him evil for a second.

"Just answer me this," she said as loudly as she could manage around all the smoke lingering in her throat. "How are you going to explain my death to the press? To the city? What are you going to tell the world?"

He looked down at her as if expected this question. Yet he stood there, contemplating something in his mind. Korra impatiently grunted when he dragged his silence on for too long. His eyes danced in mild victory, enjoying just how much control he possessed over her at that moment.

"I should just leave you here to wonder as you die here, trapped and alone. But I guess I can give you the satisfaction before I leave and you meet your end." He crouched down, coming within inches of her soot and blood-stained face, scanning her eyes carefully. When he could not find what he was looking for, he frowned and sat back on his feet, pouting like a kid denied a toy.

"What happened to the Avatar, you ask?" he said, reciting some speech he must've practiced in his head over and over again, leading up to this moment. "It was a difficult and taxing battle. The Avatar and I had Amon backed into a corner. We gave him all we had and fought with all our might. It seemed as if things were in our favor, as if the battle would be over with casualty or injury." His face took on a solemn, regretful look, staring sadly at her expression-wise, but his eyes betrayed the absolute sadistic joy he was getting out of this.

"But then…everything took a turn for the worst. Amon knocked me back and immediately went after Korra. She struggled against him." His voice lowered to a whisper. "But despite how hard she fought, he still took her bending away. When I finally came around, he had dropped her limp body on the ground, so still…unmoving." Tarrlok's rough hand came up to stroke her bruised cheek and Korra gnawed on her bottom lip, ignoring that it was cut and tasted of blood. "By the time I reached them, our Avatar – so young and so brave – was already gone from our world." He hung his head in a dramatic ending to his story, shoulders shaking slightly. To the press, they'd think he was crying over her death but Korra knew better. He was laughing at her, how easily she let him manipulate her.

She stupidly let him take advantage of her. And now it was costing her her life.

When he raised his head back up, Korra was snarling at him, fighting back tears of pain and rage. Her fingers twitched with the urge to strangle him, to bring him down with her, but she only clenched them. She would not stoop to his level and become a cold-blooded murderer.

"Then I'll tell them how your sudden and tragic death fueled me with enough adrenaline and raw strength to fight and defeat Amon for good, ending the war in Republic City and becoming their hero, their savior." He laughed at his fool-proof plan, mocking her harshly. "They'll never suspect a thing."

"Being a highly respected councilman really has its perks, doesn't it?" Korra bitterly agreed. "You have the freedom to kill off the Avatar herself and no one will ever question you about it." She spit in his face, smirking at the pink mix of saliva and blood running down his cheek and his scowl deepening as it dripped. "Feels good, huh Tarrlok?"

A resounding smack of skin against skin echoed above the low rumblings of the trembling building. Korra jerked to the side, crying out when the back of Tarrlok's hand met her already bruised cheek, pain renewed. The scratch on the inside of her cheek opened and blood filled her mouth, some dripping from the corner of her mouth and down her chin, the rest running along her tongue down her throat, causing her to gag and choke on her own blood. Her hand cradled her cheek and she squeezed her eyes together tightly to prevent any rebellious tears ready to spill over. She wouldn't display weakness. She would've give him the satisfaction.

"I'd watch your tongue if I was you. I could just give you the worst death imaginable."

Korra scoffed. "Yeah, because burning to death in a collapsing building while suffocating on smoke and ash while trapped under a rock isn't bad enough."

_Smack._

She was quiet.

Tarrlok nodded in approval and cocked his head to the side. "See? It's not so bad to listen to others, hmm?"  
She glowered at him, still silent.

He sighed and grabbed one of her sidetails framing her face, twisting it between his fingertips, lips puckered in a displeased manner. "You know, you should start crying or begging for mercy. Making things a bit more interesting for me." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Let me see the little girl hiding away inside of you, the one who I know is terrified and sobbing right now." He gazed at her with an arrogant yet pleading look that seemed so casual he may as well been asking her for a cookie. Korra simmered quietly, glaring at him with all of the intensity she could muster with her head-splitting headache.

"It takes more than a couple of good smacks to break me," she ground out, wincing when she realized she was starting to lose feeling in her leg.

Tarrlok nodded and dropped her hair. "I see.

"You know," he continued, now looking deep into her steeled cerulean eyes. "It's sad that I have to let you die like this." His hand stroked her arm softly, caressing it with the lightest of touches. "You would've made an excellent wife."

Before Korra could register anything else, his rough, large lips had engulfed her completely, sucking forcefully. They moved harshly against her dry, cracked lips and she even felt his tongue briefly flick inside her parched mouth. She had no time to struggle against him before he pulled away, smiling brilliantly.

He had won the final battle.

Both of them.

Korra's throat clogged up and constricted within itself, making her gasp desperately. She wished greatly that she would suddenly be granted with fresh, cool air, but no such mercy was bestowed upon her. Instead she coughed on the smoke-filled air as Tarrlok grinned down at her, taking pride in what he had accomplished.

"Y-you should _never_ cross an Avatar, Tarrlok," she choked out, resisting the urge to sob in front of him. "You'll regret this," she cried. Tears spilled in rivers after being held in for so long as Korra was unable to hold them back anymore. The first sob wrenched throughout her small, weak frame. "You'll get what you deserve, I'll see to it."

Tarrlok hummed in joy, standing up to full height and disappearing within the black smoke. "I'll take my chances," he called out as Korra watched in total despair and abandonment as his feet walked away from her. The sobs continued to wrack her body violently and her vision blurred as tears collected in her stinging eyes. Her breath became erratic from the combination of her suffocation and her sobbing.

An ear-splitting, distressed scream echoed off the crumbling walls and Tarrlok paused, smirking sadistically and soaking the moment in.

The strong Avatar had finally broken.

* * *

Weak. Exhausted. Spent. Korra was all of it. Amidst the floating embers and raining ash, she lay on the floor, gasping for air and silently crying. She was going to die here, alone, weak, and defeated. Her stupidity had gotten her here and it sure as hell wasn't going to help her out. This was her end, and such a idiotically tragic one at that.

All of Republic City would be mourning her death. The seventeen-year-old Avatar, died fighting in a final battle with Amon. A simple mission became her downfall. Korra laid there thinking of all the people she had come to meet since entering Republic City. How many of them would miss her? Miss Korra…not the Avatar?

…Tenzin and his family…

…Lin Bei Fong…

…Asami Sato…

…Mako and Bolin…

She'd give anything to keep them safe and alive. Her own life included. (Although this wasn't exactly what she had in mind.) They'd all done so much for her in the short amount of time she's known them and now here she was, just dying on them.

To all of them, she was just Korra. Avatar title on the side.

She had promised them her safe return. She had promised them a clean victory over Amon. She had promised them future plans and small detailed things that right now couldn't have mattered to her anymore than they did.

All of the promises she made, broken.

She wasn't coming back. Tarrlok made sure of that.

Emotions bubbled up in her stomach and she expected to start crying again, but was surprised to find that she was slowly filling with rage-powered adrenaline. Her promises to her friends and family, to Republic City, were all burning to ash along with her and think building because of that cocky son-of-a-bitch. His selfish and heartless actions fueled her anger further, giving her the strength that she lacked before.

What happened next became a blur which would prove to be difficult to remember later.

How adrenaline pumped throughout her veins as the anger inside of her built up to drastic heights. A raw cosmic energy overtook her consciousness as it ripped through her weak body and unblocked all of her chi forcefully, causing her to scream in pain and pass out. But even though Korra lacked the power in her body, something else took over, guiding her and waving her frail limbs around surely and powerfully. She was faintly aware of the lack of weight on her leg and her body rising from the ground. In the fuzziness she could make out thousands of pairs of glowing eyes and angered faces, deciding that these must've been the Avatars before her.

The Avatar spirit powered her and removed her body from the building with a gust of wind and broken rock wall. Korra could see down below her, Tarrlok talking to the reporters solemnly, already passing out his lies and building himself up. Anger was the only thing she knew of as she floated down to where they all crowded around Tarrlok and Tenzin, who looked worse for wear with a grief-stricken expression.

"Look! It's the Avatar!"

Tarrlok looked up and scowled at the sight of the free and living Korra. Tenzin followed suit and relief coursed through his body before shooting Tarrlok a suspicious glare. Disbelief and annoyance crossed Tarrlok's face before he recovered and put on a relieved façade. "Korra! I thought you were dead! Oh this is such a re-"

She wouldn't give him a chance to keep up his innocent act. Reaching out and yanking him by the front of his shirt and holding him suspended in the air, she bared her teeth at him, smirking on the inside at his sudden change from fake relief to very real fear. A collective gasp was heard from the crowd of reporters and they began murmuring to each other about what she was thinking and why was she acting this way. If only they knew.

If only.

"Councilman Tarrlok," she growled out, accompanied by the voices of the Avatars before her. "You have deceived and lied to the people of Republic City. You have also taken credit for something you have not done and attempted to murder me to keep your secret from ever getting out." Tarrlok's eyes widened in fear as she stared him down with glowing eyes, both oblivious to the field day the reporters were having by recording all of this. "Such cruelties do not go without punishment."

His body began to tremble violently in her hand as the realization dawned on him: she was going to kill him. Their roles had reversed and he was now at her complete mercy. And with the power of a long line of Avatars behind her, he didn't stand a chance. So all that he could do was stare fearfully into her possessed eyes, waiting for her to strike.

She never did.

Her grip on him loosened and he fell to the ground unceremoniously, confused as he gazed up at the powerful being before him. The glow in her eyes ebbed away slowly as she returned to her normal self, cerulean eyes harshly glaring down at him, exhaustion underlying them. Tarrlok sat on the ground frozen, watching her intently and not believing his luck.

"I won't stoop to your level," she muttered before collapsing onto the ground, panting heavily. "I'll spare your life, something you wouldn't do for me."

Tarrlok watched guiltily as more tears fell down her blackened cheeks, leaving behind watery tracks revealing her tan skin.

They were both broken.

* * *

Pema calmly watched her three children playing in the courtyard, riding circles around each other on their air scooters. She chuckled when Meelo lost control and spun like a top before finally falling to the ground, dramatically yelling the whole time. Jinora and Ikki jumped off their own scooters and laughed at their little brother before going over to help him up. The breeze blew kindly that warm afternoon and everything was so tranquil and gorgeous.

That tranquility was interrupted however when two boys ran up the long flight of steps to the courtyard, huffing and panting all the way. Wide-eyed panicked looks adorned their young faces as they both climbed the last of the steps and sprinted over to where she sat.

"Pema!" the shorter one called. Bolin if she remembered correctly.

"Oh! Hello you two." She smiled softly when they doubled over, trying to catch their breath. "I assume you're here to see Korra."

"Do you know where she is?"

Pema nodded and stood, gesturing for them to follow her. They did obediently like platypus bear cubs trailing their mother in the thick of a forest. The expectant mother smiled once again at how endearing it was that these two were so concerned for Korra's wellbeing. She wove through the halls, heading to Korra's room, calmly telling them of her current condition and how she was fairing through all of this. Both brothers listened with undivided attention, nodding with relief when Pema assured them Korra would be up and about in no time.

"She's been responding well to the healing sessions. The only real concerns we have are the burn on her arm and her broken leg. But both have been getting tremendously better, so even they aren't a real problem."

"Are you sure it's all right for us to see her?" Mako asked.

Pema nodded and stopped. "Of course! In fact, I think you two are just what she needs right now." She leaned to the left and opened the door to Korra's room, revealing a bed-ridden Korra with a healer focusing on her leg. Korra perked up and smiled when she spotted her friends' faces.

"Mako! Bolin! Thank the spirits you're here!" She laughed brightly and both boys rushed into the room, eager to talk to their teammate and dote on her. "I've been going a bit crazy here without anyone to talk to."

Pema nodded in agreement and sighed. "She actually tried jumping out her window once."

"With a broken leg?" exclaimed Mako.

"She wrapped it in pillows to cushion her fall," Pema explained. They all looked at Korra who was sitting on her bed, grinning sheepishly and scratching the back of her head.

"What can I say? I hate being cooped up for too long."

Pema laughed lightly and rested her hands on her stomach, moving aside as the healer stepped out of the room. "I think we can all vouch for that, especially Tenzin." She turned to face the bending brothers, smiling softly. "I'll leave you three alone to catch up. I'm sure you all have a lot to talk about." On that last note, she exited the room, leaving Mako and Bolin with Korra who was beaming brightly at them.

"So guys, what's up?"

"You are," Bolin replied, holding up a crumbled newspaper. "You and Tarrlok are all over the news." He placed the paper in her lap and she glanced at it briefly, cringing at the captured moment of her glaring murderously at Tarrlok in the Avatar State. She didn't realize that she could be so…terrifying. Nudging the paper away with one last look, she turned back to Bolin and laughed (even though it sounded kind of forced and empty).

"No! I mean what's up with you guys?"

"We've been worrying about you for the past few days," Mako replied stoically.

Korra frowned and crossed her arms. "Okaaaay…how about Asami? How's she doing?"

"She sends her regards and well wishes."

Exasperated, Korra threw her arms up in the air and brought them down hard on her lap. "Can we _not_ talk about me today?"

"That's going to be kind of hard considering you have a lot of explaining to do," Mako retorted, crossing his arms expectantly. When Korra looked to Bolin for help out of this situation, all she got back in return was an apologetic shrug and pressing look backing up Mako.

Korra sighed. "Guys, I really don't want to talk about it."

"We just want to know the real story, Korra," Bolin urged.

"Yeah. The papers keep saying that Tarrlok believed that Amon killed you but then you descended from the sky due to some miracle and then went completely wolfbat shit insane on him." Mako's eyes softened and he uncrossed his arms to lose some of his intimidation and reclusiveness. "They also said that you were aiming to kill him for spreading lies about your death and some other stuff that 'they're not allowed to reveal,'" he quoted. Korra only looked down at her bed sheets nervously and bit her lip, not caring that it was still cut and sore.

"Korra, what happened on that mission?"

Her head snapped up and both brothers were taken aback by her shining, tear-filled eyes glaring back at them. They'd never seen their teammate cry before; they'd believed her to be too strong to such a thing. Sure everyone had their breaking point, but she convinced them that she didn't have one. But she was showing them now that she did, that she was just as human as everyone else. She wasn't perfect, nowhere near it.

"I had every right to try and kill him!" she screeched. She took a deep, shuddering breath as she allowed that to sink into their heads before turning away to hide her trembling lip. "But I couldn't. After everything he did, I just _couldn't_."

A brief silence filled the room as Korra struggled to reign in her tears and put on a happier façade, to let this visit end on a good, lighter note. But both brothers pushed on, pressing her for more information, clawing to get whatever they could out of her.

"Korra…what did he do to you?" Bolin asked.

The young water bender sniffled and shook her head, still refusing to face them, instead staring at the wall adjacent to her bedside. "Just enough, Bo. Just enough."

"Why won't you let us help you? We're concerned!"

She rounded on him with narrowed eyes, cursing when the first tear slipped out. "I don't need your concern. I handled the situation just fine; I got out. The only thing I regret is not snapping his neck when I had the chance."

"You don't mean that," Bolin muttered, kneeling beside her bed. He reached for her hand tentatively and was pleasantly surprised when she didn't pull away. He stroked the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb as she sniffled and used her other hand to wipe at her face.

"I don't know if I do or don't," she whispered.

A pregnant pause delayed further conversation as Korra attempted to compose herself and clean up the mess she was gradually turning into. Her hand constantly wiped at her face, removing all tears before they made it past her cheekbones. Her breathing seemed strained and uneven, as if she was trying to regulate it to a more normal pace. Mako finally moved from the wall and walked over to her bed beside Bolin, taking a seat right next to her knee. They let her be for a few moments before Mako scrunched his eyebrows together and shook his head, having enough of this. Bolin watched him questioningly as he leaned over and yanked her hand from her face, catching her wrist in a death grip. The whole room seemed to hold their breath as Korra looked up at Mako, teary-eyed and so _helpless_ that if asked, Mako would've denied that this was the Fire Ferrets' headstrong water bender. Whoever this was, it wasn't Korra.

He wanted Korra back.

"Let it out," he said, holding her wrist still as tears dripped down her face freely without her hand to stop them. Catching on to what he was doing, Bolin held Korra's other hand tighter, preventing her from pulling it up to wipe away the tears that wished to be released. She stared at him with a blank expression, lips pressed into a thin line and then glanced down at Bolin beside her. Both looked at her with expressions filled with so much sympathy and worry that her lips quivered violently until she released them, letting them tremble for them to see. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing no more tears to fall, only for the opposite to happen as more trailed down her cheeks. Mako and Bolin watched her carefully, inwardly pleading for her to let loose and let everything out, to get it all out so she could go back to being her rambunctious and playful self.

Korra drew in another deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, to stop this nonsense and begin making new plans with the brothers because she was here with them, she'd made it out. She didn't break her promise because she was _here_. Wasn't that enough?

Seeing how she was beginning to withdraw into herself again, Mako used his other hand to grab her chin and pulled it up, making Korra look at him as he repeated, "Let it out." When her eyes remained unfazed, he sighed desperately and added a strained, "_Please Korra_."

The dam was breaking. The oncoming flood was getting harder to keep back and maintain and Korra squeezed her eyes shut – tighter this time – in a last ditch effort to keep composed. She opened her mouth to tell him to back, to yell at them both for being so ridiculously worried but all that came out was a drowned wail. After that, there was stopping it: the dam burst and the rivers of tears streamed down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Her shoulders bobbed and shook as she cried like there was no tomorrow and Mako retreated, letting go of her chin and hand as he stared in disbelief at what he had done.

Bolin was taken back as well but hang on tightly to Korra's hand which was now gripping back, hanging onto him like a lifeline as she drowned in this rushing river. The brothers watched helplessly as Korra cried out her heart, finally letting go all of the tension, the sadness, the fear she'd been keeping to herself since she returned to Air Temple Island.

"I almost didn't come back!" she cried. She sniffed and wiped at her eye only for more tears to replace the ones she just got rid of. "I almost broke my promise to you!"

Bolin straightened up and started rubbing soothing circles on his distressed friend's back, nodding for her to continue. Mako stayed back, letting Bolin comfort their friend as he sat there and waited for her to cry it all out. He listened to her fumbling words that she said here and there, frowning more and more each time she said something.

"It was just me and him, Tarrlok. We were….we were fighting Amon and we won but then there was this h-huge explosion and the next thing I know I'm trapped under some rock!" She gestured to her broken left leg and hiccupped, wiping away more tears. "I couldn't bend it off; Amon chi blocked me. So I asked Tarrlok to help me out and he…"

Both brothers leaned in when she stopped, lip trembling, eyes closed, hand brought close to her chest. They waited for her to continue but when she didn't, Bolin nudged her and pressed, "He what, Korra?"

She shook her head and sobbed before looking up at Mako. She held his hard stare with her watery one and Mako couldn't help but think at how pathetic she looked. His boisterous friend and teammate was now a mess before him and he had no idea how to help her other than be there to listen to her story. So he stared back at her, urging her silently with only his eyes. She licked her lips and flicked her eyes down before looking back up at him, hurt in her eyes now.

"He just _laughed_ at me." A shuddering breath. "I almost didn't make it back to you guys," she whimpered.

"What do you mean?"

Korra pursed her lips and sniffled. "He left me to die. He attempted to murder me so he could take all of the credit!"

Bolin and Mako gasped at this confession as Korra broke into more sobbing and exchanged a brief look of disbelief and anger before turning back to their friend who was speaking again.

"I almost _died_," she whispered. "By the hands of someone I _trusted_."

Throwing caution to the wind, Mako grabbed Korra's shoulders and pulled her shaking body into his arms, burying her in his chest. Bolin stood there watching the warm gesture performed by his brother while Korra froze, wide-eyed and unsure. Mako hugged her tighter and dug his chin into her shoulder.

"You're fine now, Korra. You're strong and you got out. Just know that we're here for you anytime you need us, okay?"

Ignoring his last statement, Korra clutched the back of his jacket, pressing her mouth into his shoulder. "And even after all he did, I couldn't kill him later. I had the power to, but I couldn't bring myself to do it," she said, muffled by the cloth of his jacket. She lifted her head slightly and exhaled in weariness. "Why?" she croaked. "Why was I so weak?"

Mako sighed and rubbed her back, closing his eyes softly. "You aren't weak; you just realize what true power is."

Korra sniffled. "And what is that?"

He pulled back to look into her eyes, noticing that they were watering less now.

"Mercy."

* * *

"_Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't." – Oskar Schindler, "Schindler's List"_

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**So this is the kind of crap that I spit out when I'm depressed and feel worthless. **

**Yeah.**

**Wrote this listening to nothing but I the Mighty, In Fear and Faith, and Evanescence.**

**I was going to originally leave this at the part where Tarrlok had just left Korra in the burning building, but then I thought it didn't make much sense to leave it there so I continued it. The ending is heavily inspired by the quote right up there from "Schindler's List". Ever seen it? Pretty brutal stuff.**

**This is also written out of my complete and utter hatred for Tarrlok. He's an asshole.**

**Until next time~!**


End file.
